Here’s the Bean at nine weeks. We didn’t get as clear a picture as we did for brother Sam, but we did see a speedy heartbeat and some wiggling.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were horrifying. We should never forget the murdered civilians and sacrificed lives of the police officers, firefighters, Flight 93 passengers, and other brave men and women. And it’s likely we as a nation won’t forget, thanks to the work of the national memory system–Hollywood–in depicting for various fictional accounts the events of 9/11.

Unfortunately our more substantial responses are disappointing. Even the war in Afghanistan, mostly a success, has put into power a government so cowed by Islamist tribal leaders that it doesn’t grant its own citizens even basic liberties such as the freedom of religion. And the invasion of Iraq–almost completely irrelevant to achieving the goals of the “war on terror”–has overextended U.S. military resources, sapped international good will, and created greater instability and danger.

Unlike many of his detractors, I think President Bush means well–I don’t believe he’s principally motivated by potential oil profits or other such cynical explanations offered by leftist critics. However, he and his policy advisers have made a number of naive assumptions about Iraq, most especially the assumption that freedom from tyranny is sufficient for democracy to flourish. The opposition party hasn’t countered with any ideas of substance.

What we lack in our foreign policy is realism. Instead we have conflicting and unrealistic ideologies. The political right doesn’t seem to recognize how important are cultural characteristics (as opposed to innate human qualities). The political left seems unwilling to condemn as inferior (and in need of change) those same cultural characteristics that breed violent Jihad. The right holds to an ideology of the innate goodness of mankind: just provide the right conditions, and people will naturally gravitate towards a just society. The left holds to an ideology of cultural relativism: no culture or religion is better than another, so we should just live and let live.

A realistic foreign policy would acknowledge that important cultural differences keep e.g. Iraqis and Afghanis from creating a just, democratic society on their own; it would acknowledge that although the United States has a responsibility to promote peace in the world, its policing powers are finite; it would note that wars with vaguely defined goals usually go badly; it would also admit that while the U.S. as a superpower can do many things independently of other countries, it has always been most effective in addressing serious international problems when working multilaterally. These aren’t new lessons–we learned them in the mid-Twentieth Century. Why haven’t we applied them in the Twenty-first Century?

Today I joined my friends Steven and Tim for a bike trip on the Minuteman Bikeway, an eleven-mile (one-way) paved bike trail along an old railroad bed.

The 22-mile round trip was quite pleasant, with lots of people out to enjoy the beautiful day. The trail itself is almost flat, though perhaps gently downhill towards the southeast. It would make a great family day out, as it’s something of a physical adventure yet not too far from the amenities of civilization. (With the baby due in the next couple of weeks, those adventures shouldn’t be too far off for me.)

I ended up biking about 46 miles because I rode from home to the trail and part of the way back. It was exhausting, but the weather couldn’t have been better, and I saw at least three different parades, including the one pictured at top.

What actually happened was that Stephen Colbert, a comedian, recently delivered a speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (was it funny? imagine a junior higher having just learned about sarcasm, trying to insult someone).

Part of his speech contained these lines: “By the way, Senator McCain, it’s so wonderful to see you coming back into the Republican fold. I have a summer house in South Carolina; look me up when you go to speak at Bob Jones University.” Folks, Colbert was making jokes, not reporting the news.

Sadly, it’s no surprise so many people who read The Da Vinci Code think they’re learning theology.

To my wonderful wife. I love you!

Today we received a surprise present in the mail from my Uncle Jim and Aunt Margaret: this Rockford sock monkey for our upcoming baby boy.

Sock monkeys originate in my mother’s hometown of Rockford, Illinois, where one John Nelson invented a sock-knitting machine in the 1880s. The distinctive red heel that makes the monkey’s mouth appeared as part of a trademarked line of socks in the 1930s, and at some point in the 1950s the Nelson Knitting Company included monkey-making instructions with each pair. Rockford even has a traveling seven-foot-tall sock monkey representative.

Today about 18 weeks into the pregnancy, we had our second ultrasound exam and saw for ourselves that we’re going to have a boy! He was moving around quite a bit, so it was tough to get good pictures, but here they are. The first is looking straight at the head, and the second two are profiles of the head. In the third, you might be able to see a hand in thumb-sucking position.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Luke 2:4-20

Even though my wife’s only eight weeks into the pregnancy and the kid’s just two centimeters long, today we could see fingers, a heartbeat (at 167 beats a minute), and the occasional wiggle.

In an interview last week with The New York Times, Superintendent Compass said that some of his most shocking statements turned out to be untrue. Asked about reports of rapes and murders, he said: “We have no official reports to document any murder. Not one official report of rape or sexual assault.”

On Sept. 4, however, he was quoted in The Times about conditions at the convention center, saying: “The tourists are walking around there, and as soon as these individuals see them, they’re being preyed upon. They are beating, they are raping them in the streets.”

Those comments, Superintendent Compass now says, were based on secondhand reports. The tourists “were walking with their suitcases, and they would have their clothes and things taken,” he said last week. “No rapes that we can quantify.”

During six days when the Superdome was used as a shelter, the head of the New Orleans Police Department’s sex crimes unit, Lt. David Benelli, said he and his officers lived inside the dome and ran down every rumor of rape or atrocity. In the end, they made two arrests for attempted sexual assault, and concluded that the other attacks had not happened.

“I think it was urban myth,” said Lieutenant Benelli, who also heads the police union. “Any time you put 25,000 people under one roof, with no running water, no electricity and no information, stories get told.”

This had to be embarrassing:

A contingent of National Guard troops was sent to rescue a St. Bernard Parish deputy sheriff who radioed for help, saying he was pinned down by a sniper. Accompanied by a SWAT team, the troops surrounded the area. The shots turned out to be the relief valve on a gas tank that popped open every few minutes, said Maj. Gen. Ron Mason of the 35th Infantry Division of the Kansas National Guard.